Ugly Things: Music Fanzines
‘All right, punk, this is it’.
Lester Bangs: ‘James Taylor Marked for Death: What we need is a lot less Jesus and a whole lot more Troggs!)’, Who Put The Bomp No 8, Fall/ Winter 1971
‘All you kids out there who read ‘SG’, don’t be satisfied with what we write. Go out and start your own fanzines or send reviews to the established papers. Let’s really get on their nerves, flood the market with punk-writing!’
Mark Perry: ‘No Doubt About It…Mark P. Pisses on The Lot of ‘Em’, “Sniffin’ Glue” 5, November 1976
Fanzines reach the parts that mainstream magazines and newspapers don’t even approach. Obsession can lead you into strange territories, but it also gives you the passion and the drive to: write 10,000 words about a 60′s garage band that only released a couple of 45′s or produce a 10 page zine comprised completely of montages – to name just two cases in point.
The basis of music writing should be fandom. The phrase ‘do you believe in magic?’ should be tattooed on the heart of every reviewer – just in case they forget, which they regularly do. The factory aspect of modern media – the relentless grind of the PR leg agenda – brings fatigue, sonic saturation and, that most deadly result of media smog: hatred of that very thing you once loved.
That’s not to say that every piece of music writing should be a gush – the true fan can be as unforgiving as the fanatic from which the word ‘fan’ originally derives. Many fanzines exhibit a level of primary research and all-round scholarship that, if it wasn’t allied to prose that attempts to convey the excitement of the noise, would not disgrace the top echelons of academia.
In a way, the term is almost demeaning: ‘oh, he/she is just a fan’, is often used to dismiss those who do not conform to the shop-worn cynicism that is the primary mainstream media mode. In fact, fanzines open a window into an alternative world: they often tell what was really going on, what is really going on as it happens, and what will happen in the near or far future.
In the 1960′s, fanzines like KRLA Beat filled a gap in the coverage of pop, which had not expanded between the headlines of great teen sheets like ’16′ and the rare, often awkward patronage of Time, LIFE et al. They knew how to ask the right questions and, just as often, to pick the right groups to cover – just as the pop scene was beginning to turn weird.
From 1966 on, Greg Shaw’s “Mojo Navigator” and Paul Williams’ “Crawdaddy” laid the basis for what would soon be called rock criticism, in their attempts to get inside the heads and hearts of the musicians spearheading the new culture that was still unknown to all but a few thousand people. Their approach would be professionalized by the early Rolling Stone which, it is sometimes hard to remember, was a great magazine in the late 60′s/ early 70′s.
In the UK during the late 60′s, music coverage was still dominated by weeklies like the New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo – which were still locked into the beat boom as far their presentation was concerned. Apart from hippie culture zines like Oz, IT and Friends, there were few places to read about the great profusion of underground music.
Founded by Pete Frame in 1969, Zigzag took up the slack with fantastic coverage of West Coast acts like Love, The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield along with home-grown movers like Fairport Convention and Fleetwood Mac. There was so much happening during this period that their mapping of what was only recent history – the years between 1966-68 – had a real impact.
Zigzag‘s success spawned a whole raft of 70′s UK fanzines devoted to the West Coast: Comstock Lode, Fat Angel, Dark Star. These were sold through the underground press network and the alternative bookshops that still dotted every major city. Crossover groups like the Flamin’ Groovies were fanzine staples during this period, and their cult popularity a tribute to the zine influence.
At the same time, Greg Shaw’s “Who Put The Bomp” and, a little later, Brian Hogg’s “Bam Balam” began to deep-mine the sharp, hard sounds of mid sixties freakbeat and garage. The importance of “Who Put The Bomp” cannot be under-estimated: UT food and wine editor Johan Kugelberg thinks that issue 8, which contains Lester Bangs’ Troggs rant, is the pluperfect fanzine ever.
These two magazines in particular were direct precursors of the Punk fanzine explosion triggered in the UK by Mark Perry’s “Sniffin’ Glue” (directly influenced by “Bam Balam”). Over the next 18 months, literally hundreds of stapled together A4 sheets covered every single aspect of UK punk: some were banal, some were brilliant, but they mirrored the incredible dynamism of the instant.
In the US, the punk-era zines tended to be more professionally produced – often using a broadsheet format – and regionally based: Alan Betrock’s “New York Rocker” (NY), John Thompson’s “CLE”, Claude Bessy’s “Slash” (LA) and V.Vale’s “Search and Destroy” (SF). In 1977 and 1978 they all opened out the possibilities of the period just at the moment when in the UK they had curdled.
Since Punk, fanzines have widened and deepened into the extraordinary mix of scholarship, attitude and passion that you hold in your hands right now. They flourish because of our fascination with what now seems like a Golden Age: that period between 1955 and the early 80′s before Mass Culture was tainted by celebrity, too much money, and too much industry attention.
Basically, they enshrine the idea that you do it because you need to and you have to – otherwise you’d explode. It’s not a career, it’s a way of life. It’s not product, it’s art. Capturing the moment is more important that having one eye on posterity. The focus group is the root of all evil. The bit players can tell you more than the big stars. Freedom of expression is all important. DO IT YOURSELF.
TOP THIRTEEN MUSIC FANZINES:
KRLA Beat (1965-7): Radio station associated zine that covered the mainstream as well as local weirdos like Captain Beefheart and Love. Great photos, and fascinating articles documenting the reaction against the English Invasion and long hair in general. Check out the fantastic montage spread covering the Velvet Underground’s visit to the Trip: May 28 1966, Herman cover. Bootleg reprints of KRLA Beat highlights were around a few years ago.
Mojo Navigator (1966-67): Mimeographed zine published by Greg Shaw and David Harris covering the SF scene from the inside over 14 issues. Fascinating interviews with the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Doors as well as gossip and news. Got pics by the end, which came when ‘Rolling Stone came along and I got bored and gave it up’. For more, see “Bomp! Saving the World One Record At A Time” by Suzy Shaw and Mick Farren (American Modern Books, 2007)
UK Zigzag (1969–1982): Under the aegis of Pete Frame, Zigzag deepened the UK coverage of underground music, whether UK folk rock (Fairport Convention were the cover stars of issue 1, April 1969), freak rock (Edgar Broughton, issue 12) or in particular West Coast (Love, issue 10, CSNY issue 11, Captain Beefheart passim). The writing was inclusive and the editor approachable, and the eclectic coverage and the high standard of production made ZZ the classic UK fanzine of the day. Its later 1976 move into punk under a different editor saw a big dip in standards. Pete Frame has just published an excellent memoir and history of British pop in the 1950′s, “The Restless Decade: How Rock Music Changed the Face of 50′s Britain”, Rogan House 2007.
Who Put The Bomp (1970-79): the epitome of fan power, Greg Shaw’s legendary magazine began by covering Rock’n Roll but quickly moved into sixties Beat and Garage – the Standells, the Seeds, the British Invasion – as exemplars of excitement, brevity and pop nous. Well, we know where that ended up, and Shaw helped it to happen by releasing the Flamin’ Groovies great “You Tore Me Down” and covering UK punk when hardly anyone else did. A foray into Power Pop was less successful, but by then BOMP the label was releasing killer early US punk 45′s by the Zeros and the Weirdos, amongst others. In the late seventies, Shaw began the legendary “Pebbles” LPs of garage/ psych reissues.
Bam Balam (1974-1978): Brian Hogg’s self-produced zine focused on very detailed, almost haiku like biographies of key 60′s artists like the Kinks, John’s Children, the Move, the Pretty Things, the Birds and, of course, the Flamin’ Groovies. The mag was an unacknowledged but important influence on British Punk. Hogg also published two issues of “Smashed Blocked”, a selected discography of UK 60′s Pop.
Sniffin’ Glue (1976-78): The archetypal British punk fanzine: the model for hundreds of others. Entitled after the Ramones’ song, Perry’s magazine charted his own increasing involvement with the punk scene and its rapid momentum from excitement to exhaustion. Great early interviews with the Clash and the Damned: pic covers after issue 3. All twelve issues are collected in: Mark Perry, “Sniffin’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory”, Sanctuary Publishing 2000.
Girl Trouble (1977): One page fanzine – printed on both sides – started by Paul Morley in early 1977 (his summer 1976 “Out There” had a very early review of the Sex Pistols’ Manchester show) and open to guest editors like Richard Boon and yours truly. Perhaps the most extreme example of the you can say and do anything aesthetic. One of the best writers to come out of UK Punk, Morley has since published several books, most notably “Nothing”, his memoir of 1977.
Search & Destroy (1977-78): Begun in Spring 1977 by V.Vale, this broadsheet magazine had incredible graphics and world-class photographs by Ruby Ray, as well as crucial documentation of forgotten but brilliant groups like the Screamers and the Sleepers, as well as interviews with Russ Meyer, William Burroughs, John Waters and J.G. Ballard.
Vale interview
Slash (1977-1980): Formed by Claude Bessy and Steve Samiof, the journal of record for the first wave Los Angeles punk scene, so much about the Screams, the Bags, the Germs, The Weirdos et al. If that isn’t recommendation enough, Bessy’s writing lit up the page: punk rock in action. Later mutated into punk label, issuing key records by the Germs and Rank and File.
Claude Bessy interview
Kicks (1979-1992): Published by Billy Millar and Miriam Linna, who had previously edited the Flamin’ Groovies Monthly and drummed for the Cramps. Extraordinary detailed and full accounts – average issue size nearly 100 pages – on wild wild rockers from the fifties and sixties. Also note: Miriam’s spin-off JD mag, “Bad Seeds” (mid to late eighties). The Kicks team went on to found devoted reissue label Norton Records (Link Wray, the Sonics, Mad Mike Monsters) – – and have also taken over the remaining stock of Shake Books, formerly run by New York Rocker’s Alan Betrock (RIP).
Strange Things (1987-1990): Formed out of Bam Caruso, Phil Smee’s reissue label – that opened up Brit psych and freakbeat from the mid 80′s on – Strange Things was an eclectic mix of 60′s pop cult (The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Barbarella), psych obscurities (Autosalvage) and left field artists that are now mainstream (Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, Moondog). Beautifully produced, well worth finding if you can.
Cream Puff War (1991-1993): Jud Coast and Alec Palao only published two issues of this Bay Area focused magazine, but both are models of the genre, with great historical interviews (Chocolate Watch Band, Great! Society, The Vejtables, the Charlatans et al) and fantastic photographs adding up to the social history of an era. Palao is now well-known for his work on the garage/ psych reissues on Ace/ Big Beat Records UK.
Ugly Things (1983- ): well of course: what did you expect!